When a player signs a contract with a club, a release clause is also agreed on so that if a club pays that release amount they can directly negotiate personal terms with the players and can avoid negotiating with the player’s club.
However, not every football league has the mandatory rule of a release clause. Only, Spanish league, La Liga has the rule that every player must have a release clause.
PSG took advantage of that rule when they activated Neymar’s €222m release clause in 2017. So now the La Liga clubs keep astronomical figures as release clauses so that any club who wants to sign a player will have to negotiate with the club rather than paying the release clause.
Currently, Real Madrid’s star striker Karim Benzema has the highest release clause in world football which is valued at around 1 billion euros. This astronomical release clause guarantees that no club can directly negotiate with Benzema without informing Real Madrid.
The La Liga players occupy all the top 10 positions in this list. Here are the top 10 football players with the highest release clause:
| Rank | Player | Club | Reported release clause |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | €1bn (£850m/$1.2bn) |
| 2 | David Alaba | Real Madrid | €850m (£726m/$988m) |
| 3 | Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid (on loan from Barcelona) | €800m ($683m/$930m) |
| =4 | Federico Valverde | Real Madrid | €750m (£641m/$872m) |
| =4 | Luka Modric | Real Madrid | €750m (£641m/$872m) |
| =4 | Brahim Diaz | AC Milan (on loan from Real Madrid) | €750m (£641m/$872m) |
| =7 | Marco Asensio | Real Madrid | €700m (£598m/$814m) |
| =7 | Vinicius Junior | Real Madrid | €700m (£598m/$814m) |
| =7 | Isco | Real Madrid | €700m (£598m/$814m) |
| =10 | Gareth Bale | Real Madrid | €500m (£427m/$581m) |
| =10 | Gerard Pique | Barcelona | €500m (£427m/$581m) |
| =10 | Sergio Roberto | Barcelona | €500m (£427m/$581m) |
